Here’s Why We Don’t See Peter Parker Use His Spider-Sense In ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’

UPDATE: Some readers have pointed out that Spider-Man appears to use his Spidey-sense in Civil War when he’s fighting Bucky and Falcon, though this could also be the Stark suit aiding him or even Spidey-hearing (only half-joking about that last one).

Tom Holland may be the youngest incarnation of Spider-Man we’ve seen yet on the big screen, but he possesses all the same powers and abilities as Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s webheads; in fact, he has even more thanks to the tech suit Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) hooks him up with. However, one ability that Spider-Man has yet to display in either Captain America: Civil War or Spider-Man: Homecoming is his Spider-sense.

In pretty much every incarnation of the character, including previous live-action movies, Peter Parker has the ability to sense threats in his immediate surroundings, a sort of precognitive power that allows Spidey to react to ambushes or other surprises. The previous Spider-Man movies make it quite clear when the hero is using his Spider-sense but it’s unclear if Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has the same power, as he doesn’t show any signs of using it in either of his Marvel Cinematic Universe appearances so far. For instance, if Peter does have a Spider-sense, than it arguably should have warned him about his friend Ned being in his bedroom, thus enabling Peter to keep his identity safe. So what’s the deal?

IGN recently asked Marvel Studios president and Homecoming producer Kevin Feige for clarification on the matter and whether there is even a need for the superpower given the scanning abilities provided by Spidey’s Stark tech suit. Here’s what he had to say:

“No, I think he has it. And I think he has it with or without that suit,” Feige explained “I think how we explore it in a cinematic sense will change. I mean, that was sort of a big showy part of previous versions and we thought that we’d make it more of an internal, sort of second nature thing for him.”

Feige continued, “But there are ways coming up that will slowly hint at that and also just make it part of his, you know, his natural abilities. But we don’t know that if it will be — I think we’ll explore it further down the line, but [it’s] definitely him not the suit.”

While Feige’s answer doesn’t address why Peter wouldn’t be able to sense his best friend being in his room, it’s at least a definitive answer on the subject. Tom Holland’s Spider-Man has a Spidey-sense, but we just don’t see it visually conveyed on screen. Perhaps it’s one of those abilities that everyone just assumes Spider-Man naturally has, so there’s no need to devote time to it on screen? It will be interesting to see if Spidey uses it in his future MCU appearances, such as Avengers: Infinity War, which comes out next year.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is in theaters now. For what we thought of the movie, check out our review here.